“Initially, I didn’t know she had Down syndrome,” Paulk’s mother, Katoria Grady, said in an interview Monday afternoon with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I actually found out three to four days later.”

The first four months of Paulk’s life were confined to a hospital, where she had at least one surgery a week, Grady said.

“We just took it one day at a time,” she said.

When Paulk came home, she was attached to a heart monitor and was fed through a tube inserted in her stomach.

With expenses mounting, Grady stayed in a nearby Ronald McDonald House and her parents helped with medical expenses.

Gradually, Grady said, things began to improve. Paulk began bottle-feeding at six months. She was crawling at 1 1/2 years old. By two years old, Paulk was walking and talking.

Through it all, Paulk didn’t quit.

“She never gave up,” Grady said. “She’s a fighter. Even when she’s sick, she still has fight in her.”

Paulk’s can-do attitude, her mother said, landed her a spot as an honorary cheerleader and earned her a scholar-athlete award.

Paulk’s success didn’t end there. Saturday, she was crowned prom queen by her peers, moving the crowd to tears, Grady said.

“The room was dark, but she lit it up,” she said. “She was glowing in the dark.”